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Claim: Several social media posts recently claimed there was a new virus outbreak in China that resulted from a man eating the semen of a bird.
Verdict: Insufficient evidence. The claim stemmed from a satire page, as no credible news outlet covered the incident. Also, the Tech Times Facebook page that carried the report does not belong to the original Tech Times media firm in the United States.
Full Text
In 2020, there was a worldwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan City, China. Over 7 million people died from the complications of the virus. The adverse effects of the lockdown on economic and social activities still linger years after.
Recall that in 2022, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 raised concerns worldwide. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, there have been conversations around the spread of diseases and fears of another lockdown.
In September 2025, some social media users and pages shared reports of a purported virus outbreak in China (with no specifics about the city or town). They claimed that it originated from a man who had eaten “cum,” that is, the semen of a bird.
One such post by Instagram user @thekhabree reads, “In a shocking development, China has confirmed a new virus outbreak after reports surfaced that it originated from an unusual incident where a man reportedly consumed bird reproductive fluids. Authorities are now on high alert, with strict measures being enforced to contain the spread….”
The post claims medical teams and researchers are investigating the nature of this virus, its transmission, and possible risks to humans. They have advised people to remain cautious, maintain hygiene, and avoid risky food practices that may lead to zoonotic diseases.
This Facebook page, @TechTimes, with over 800,000 followers, also made a similar post. The common featured image that accompanied the claim showed police officers wearing hazmat suits, with the Chinese logo placed in the top right corner of the picture.
We also found the claim on Instagram (here and here) and on TikTok (here).
Scanning the comment sections of these posts, DUBAWA observed a high level of believability by the audience, with many anti-China comments.
This user @n1ckJ0hns0n quipped, “Can we just put a dome over China?” While @donjlo_ said, “I am starting to believe that the Great Wall of China was designed to keep them in and not the other way around.”
On Facebook, a user, Okolo Henry Ejiga, wrote, “China wants to sell another vaccine again. There is God ooo.” Jaime Vincent commented, “First it was bat soup, that was how Covid started, now this is annoying.”
Given the sensitivity of the claim, DUBAWA decided to probe it.
Verification
To investigate the claim, DUBAWA began by checking credible major news outlets worldwide for similar reports but found none.
Knowing that the word “cum” cannot be used by these outlets, DUBAWA rephrased the statement on the viral image to include “semen” or “reproductive fluids” of birds in connection to a recent virus outbreak in China. Still, there was no report of such by credible news outlets or health regulating agencies like the World Health Organisation (WHO).
DUBAWA also ran a reverse image search on the image accompanying the claim and observed that the photo had been online since 2022. At the time, news reports confirmed that the officers in the photo, wearing hazmat suits, were enforcing the zero-COVID policy in Shanghai amid the rapid spread of the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus.
A recent news report citing the Hong Kong Centre for Health Protection (CHP) confirmed two new cases of the H9N2 avian flu. But the H9N2 avian flu (bird flu) is not new. The flu is said to circulate in poultry in China and other parts of Asia.
H9N2 belongs to a class of avian influenza, a viral infection that spreads in birds, cows, and other animals. According to the USGS, type A viruses are divided into subtypes based on two proteins on the virus’s surface: Hemagglutinin (HA), with 16 subtypes (H1-H16), and Neuraminidase (NA), with nine subtypes (N1-N9). Combinations of HA and NA proteins lead to strains such as H5N1, H5N2, H7N2, and H7N8.
The HN92 virus was first isolated from a chicken in China’s Guangdong province in 1992.
There was no record of a man eating the semen of the bird involved. Meanwhile, this claim had been shared three years ago without any supporting evidence.
News reports also show the spread of the Chikungunya virus in China. Health authorities have adopted aggressive measures to combat the spread of the mosquito-borne virus, including deploying drones to find insect breeding grounds.
In January 2025, human metapneumovirus (HMPV), a flu-like viral disease, surged in China, raising concerns about its potential spread. This led to a series of disinformation chains on social media with claims that people were dying and that a national emergency had been declared. While these claims were debunked, experts fear that such falsehoods will prevent public health officials from raising the alarm for future pandemics.
DUBAWA visited the Tech Times website and followed the social media icon to determine if there was any connection between the Facebook account that shared the report on September 11, 2025, and the reputable media firm. Still, the Facebook icon brought up a different page.
When DUBAWA checked the page’s transparency, we observed that it is not linked to any website. The reviews on the page indicate users’ disapproval of its content, particularly its failure to include a link to its news source.
Also, when we used reverse image search to trace the image, which contained the caption, we observed that it originated from Zesty News, an Instagram page known for sharing satirical news. On the page’s bio, it was written ‘Satire News…”
While satire in news aims to present meaningful and serious conversations with a tint of humour, it presents a challenge in the era of misinformation, where pages like this cook up stories just for fun.
Conclusion
There is no evidence that a man ate bird secretion in China, leading to a virus outbreak. The post originated from a satire page and has since been shared by unverified sources.
